Inquest to be held eight years after Naomi Coley-Rogan’s death

AN INQUEST into the death of a young woman in York will finally take place this week - almost eight years after she died.

The hearing about Naomi Coley-Rogan’s death on the railway tracks at Dringhouses in September 2006 is just one of a number of investigations which have been outstanding for a number of years, York’s new acting senior coroner has revealed.

A spokeswoman for Jonathan Leach said he became aware of the delays when he was appointed to the position, following Donald Coverdale’s retirement as York Coroner last month.

She said: “The acting senior coroner is, as a matter of urgency, arranging for them to be concluded as soon as possible.”

She added that all investigations which had not been completed or discontinued within a year had to be reported to the national Chief Coroner by September 5, and Mr Leach would be doing this.

Ms Coley-Rogan was killed by a London-York express train at 6.30am on September 6, on the railway line south of the Askham Bar Tesco, a day after she caught a train to York from Manchester.

The Press reported in October 2006 how mystery still surrounded why she came to York and lost her life.

British Transport Police said that a month after her death, they still had no picture of what happened to her from the time she left her home in Manchester until she was killed on the railway, but stressed they were not treating it as a suspicious death.

They said it was thought she would have stood out because she was a ‘striking young woman’ who was “notably pretty,” with light brown skin and collar-length dark brown or black wavy hair.

Mr Coverdale told The Press in June 2008 that he hoped to hold inquests into her death, and that of another unconnected person who had also died on the railway tracks, in August that year.

He said he was having difficulties finding suitable accommodation for lengthy jury inquests but he had reserved New Earswick village hall for a number of days in August. The other inquest was eventually held in November 2009.

The Press attempted to contact Mr Coverdale to give him opportunity to comment on the delays with Ms Coley-Rogan’s inquest but he was unavailable.